Crashing my dreams ... need advice.

Oksee

New Member
Hello to everyone reading his post. I had no other ideas, but to start a new thread and ask questions. I had a long life dream of becoming an ATC, however things happened in my life that I was never able to pursue it up until now. My friend went through CTI program and passed it. I wasn't able to go with her.
To make a long story short, I applied for PUBNAT and was (finally) selected for AT-SAT. I have read all the posts about the test, the job, the study, the training ... you name it. I ordered the green book to get the idea of this test. After reviewing it I feel like my dream is starting to chip away, bit by bit. All of you made it sound that the test is no biggy, well math seems twisty (even though I never had math problems and always an A student). I can't seem to do it in a time limit.
This PUBNAT is for general public ... but the test does not seem general ... I have never studied FAA regulations in compliance to ATC. How do you, guys, know all of that? Did you just study in advance or you have experience in the field: pilots, engineers, FAA employees, dispatchers...etc?
I sincerely would love to become a controller and I will fight to the end ... but it sure seems sometimes that I am in the wrong boat because going through each problem in the green book takes a century.
Thanks to all who would give some honest suggestions.
 
The green book is totally irrelevant. The only thing that may help is the disc that comes with it, but even that is iffy. You do not need any prior knowledge, other than math and spelling skills.

Don't over analyze it, you will be fine.
 
The green book is totally irrelevant. The only thing that may help is the disc that comes with it, but even that is iffy. You do not need any prior knowledge, other than math and spelling skills.

Don't over analyze it, you will be fine.
:yeahthat:

For the math stuff, try and simplify the numbers. Round them to something close by, like if a plane is traveling 290MPH I would round that to 300 because it's easily divisible by 60MPH (or 1 mile a minute). So a plane going 300MPH is going 5 miles a minute. Doing it this way you can eliminate at least 2 answers, if not three.

Also the CD likes to use the abbreviation KPH, they are not talking kilometers, but knots, same thing as MPH. Hope that helps
 
when i got into ATC in 97 i knew nothing of the career field. i, like many, thought it was the guys waving at the planes when they pulled into the chocks. you will learn the rules and how to apply them while in your training for each position. trust me, you will eventually know the rules like the rest of the controllers. be intimidated for the sense of being humble...but don't be intimidated. does that even make sense?

a goal in life helps your progress because u will inherently try harder than those that are in it for other various reasons. i'm not an OTS so i can't sympathize the struggle your facing. but, i will say that the end game is sweet and you will be afforded every oppurtunity to reach it if you want it bad enough and are willing to WORK for it.

JL
 
Hello to everyone reading his post. I had no other ideas, but to start a new thread and ask questions. I had a long life dream of becoming an ATC, however things happened in my life that I was never able to pursue it up until now. My friend went through CTI program and passed it. I wasn't able to go with her.
To make a long story short, I applied for PUBNAT and was (finally) selected for AT-SAT. I have read all the posts about the test, the job, the study, the training ... you name it. I ordered the green book to get the idea of this test. After reviewing it I feel like my dream is starting to chip away, bit by bit. All of you made it sound that the test is no biggy, well math seems twisty (even though I never had math problems and always an A student). I can't seem to do it in a time limit.
This PUBNAT is for general public ... but the test does not seem general ... I have never studied FAA regulations in compliance to ATC. How do you, guys, know all of that? Did you just study in advance or you have experience in the field: pilots, engineers, FAA employees, dispatchers...etc?
I sincerely would love to become a controller and I will fight to the end ... but it sure seems sometimes that I am in the wrong boat because going through each problem in the green book takes a century.
Thanks to all who would give some honest suggestions.


The test requires no knowledge of ATC, so don't worry about that. If you have the green book, use the practice CD and do the problems in the book. You say you never had problems with math... if this is true, you will definitely be able to pick it up again if you keep practicing. Since you mention FAA regulations, I have to tell you to make sure you're only studying the AT-SAT portion of the book (if I remember correctly, there are more questions in the back that are "scarier" :crazy: and those are not on the AT-SAT test). The test consists of math, angles, dials, letter factory, air traffic scenarios, scan, analogies, and then a personality portion... that's it.
 
All of you made it sound that the test is no biggy, well math seems twisty (even though I never had math problems and always an A student). I can't seem to do it in a time limit.


If I remember correctly the CD will only give you so much time to answer each question and then it automatically goes to the next one.

On the actual test, the entire section is time as one, not each question... so you have as much time as you need to solve the problem and then move on at your pace. Does that make sense?

Also, regarding the knowledge portion, I don't recall anything on the test requiring any aviation knowledge. It has an aviation theme to it, but it could easily be rethemed to anything.
 
Stop freaking about about the dumb AT-SAT. You'll have a long time to complete each section and the math that I had on my test was very easy...basic stuff. Also since the test is multiple choice it is even easier to narrow down the correct answers. Unlike you, I didn't even know about this "green book" and I still got well qualified. The tricker parts of the test is the Letter Factory game and the analogies.
 
First of all, I would like to say thank you to each of you for your support and replies. "Family" support always helps!!! :)
I will take K-Dog's advice and take it easy and stop over analyzing the test. I just waited so long for this chance and I do not want to blew it. Then Nathan's suggestion to round off the numbers was a great tip; it already helped to solve some of the problems much faster last night.
Moreover, a little bit of history from JL helped to see that there are some in the same boat with me.

Chichi was right ... ATC part is not on the test, even though green book includes a whole section of FAA regulations. And as far as the CD, BoomerSooner77 made a good observaton about the CD test. It does time each question and I felt like failing every other one. Good news here!

But most of all I would like to thank Bippoptl for that awesome .pdf. It is what I was looking for to get some intro into aviation math. Kool!

You guys, rock! :rawk:
I hope working with controllers like all of you someday.
Oksee
 
im not sure if the cd that comes with the green book has been updated, but the version i have was MUCH MUCH faster than the real test, and it really wasnt even that comparable honestly....i think there is more than enough information on the message boards to prepare yourself for the test. each test gives you practice tests that you take. main thing, dont rush the test. you get 8 hours to take it (including lunch and breaks). TAKE THE BREAKS...i took all the suggested breaks, and even did an hour for lunch instead of 30 minutes and still got out of there in 6 hours.

if youve ever taken a look at the 7110.65 it is impossible for anybody to know it all. you just have to be able to find what you want to know. and its not ALL used at EVERY airport. for example, some airports dont do land and hold short procedures, but its still in the .65. and like others have said, dont worry too much about the test...i walked out of there thinking i surely failed it, and it turned out i got in the 90's
 
another thing to remember, if youve ever taken a look at the 7110.65 it is impossible for anybody to know it all. you just have to be able to find what you want to know. and its not ALL used at EVERY airport. for example, some airports dont do land and hold short procedures, but its still in the .65. and like others have said, dont worry too much about the test...i walked out of there thinking i surely failed it, and it turned out i got in the 90's

Thank you, thesoonerkid! :)
I wish we would know the grading system FAA uses. Some people did not finish many of their questions and got good grades. :confused: And then there are some that finished every question, studied hard and got lower grade. Go figure.
 
Thank you, thesoonerkid! :)
I wish we would know the grading system FAA uses. Some people did not finish many of their questions and got good grades. :confused: And then there are some that finished every question, studied hard and got lower grade. Go figure.
even if we knew it that doesn't necessarily mean we would understand it. we are talking about the government here.
 
That is because even though they answered everything, all their answers were wrong.
So being correct is more important than answering the most questions ? hmm ... duh ... I guess it makes sense. :banghead:
 
Well if there are 100 questions and someone answers 90 of them correct and leaves 10 blank, that is 90%

If someone answers all 100 but gets 30 wrong that is 70%.

I would rather leave the 10 blank and make sure I used my time wisely enough to get the rest right;)
 
Well if there are 100 questions and someone answers 90 of them correct and leaves 10 blank, that is 90%

If someone answers all 100 but gets 30 wrong that is 70%.

I would rather leave the 10 blank and make sure I used my time wisely enough to get the rest right;)

Awesome, thanks for the advise!:laff:
 
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